THEY are the modern scourge: cowards who use the anonymity of the internet to viciously abuse people by issuing threats to rape, mutilate or murder.

Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, better known for his tough stance on the European convention on human rights, has turned his fire on so-called trolls, people who use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to harass and intimidate victims.

“People are being abused online in the most crude and degrading fashion,” Grayling said last night.

“We must send out a clear message: if you troll, you risk being behind bars for two years.”

Many of the victims of these trolls are women, among them the Labour MP Stella Creasy, the TV presenter Judy Finnigan and her daughter Chloe Madeley, and Kate McCann, the mother of missing Madeleine.

Last month McCann and her husband Gerry handed police an 80-page dossier containing hundreds of tweets,........"